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Outright Gifts

Annual Support

OBU's annual fund encourages financial support which assists in the university's operation. This support can be contributed through unrestricted gifts, support for the Bison Athletic Association (athletic booster group) and support for the Friends of the Arts (arts support group). Annual support comes through a variety of appeals, including the annual phonathon (January-February), direct mail, personal contact, etc. Unrestricted support assists the university in providing the difference between the total cost of educating the student and what the student actually pays. The Bison Athletic Association supplements the University athletic programs through scholarship aid, the purchase of equipment, programming costs and other needs as determined by the Athletic Director and team coaches. The Friends of the Arts organization aids the Warren M. Angell School of Visual and Performing Arts through scholarship aid, the purchase of additional equipment, programming costs and other needs as determined by the Dean and Faculty of the School.

Endowed Gifts to OBU

Scholarships: An endowed scholarship requires a minimum corpus of $10,000. Earnings from the corpus provide for an annual scholarship award. Scholarships can be awarded based on a variety of factors (academic disciplines, geographic area, financial need, etc.)

Lectureship: The lectureship is a temporary appointment, usually given to a visiting scholar or speaker during a select visit to OBU. The endowment required for a named lectureship is $50,000. These lectureships can address certain academic disciplines, subject matters or other areas of academic thought/discussion.

Professorship: The endowed professorship is a partially-funded post which is awarded to a professor who is prominent in his or her field, an outstanding teacher, and one who has demonstrated exceptional ability in the selected academic discipline. The endowed academic professorship can be endowed for $250,000 and named for or by the donor. The endowment will be used to enhance salary, benefits, and certain expenses, such as travel, research, or secretarial assistance.

Chair: The endowed chair is similar to the endowed professorship in terms of the assistance provided, except that it is the highest funded endowed post. The faculty member holding this position is considered to be one of the most distinguished faculty members on the University campus. This position can be endowed for $500,000.

Appreciated Securities

Did you know that using appreciated securities to make your gift delivers more tax benefits to you than using cash? Use appreciated securities for your gift. A $5,000 cash gift and a gift of $5,000 in appreciated securities both generate the same charitable deduction. But if you use publicly-traded stocks or bonds to make your gift, you will receive an additional tax benefit: the IRS allows you to make your transfer to Oklahoma Baptist University without recognizing capital gains on the appreciation. You can thus leverage a larger donation than you could make with cash -- and receive a larger tax deduction -- by "buying low and giving high." Your gift of securities is valued as of the day it reaches our account if your broker transfers them electronically, or the postmark date if you mail the shares. Your gift value is the average of the high and the low prices for the securities on that date.

Did you know that appreciated assets may bring more benefit to us than to you? Use Appreciated Assets for your gift. Stocks and bonds are not the only forms of appreciated property that receive favorable tax treatment when they are donated to Oklahoma Baptist University. The IRS also allows donors of appreciated real estate, business interests, and artwork to contribute them and receive a deduction based on their full market value. These gifts do raise more tax and acceptance issues than contributions of publicly-traded securities, and we ask our friends who may be considering such a gift to contact our office first.

Gifts of Real Estate

Oklahoma Baptist University is happy to consider gifts of both residential and commercial real estate. We gratefully review each offer in conjunction with our financial officers, who evaluate the condition and marketability of all proposed acquisitions of property and have the final say on acceptance. Real estate may be given to us outright or be used to fund a life-income gift such as a unitrust. It may also be transferred through a part-sale/part-gift arrangement (a charitable bargain sale), or a donor may give her home to us and reserve the right to continue to live there (a retained life estate).

Gifts of Business Interests

You can give Oklahoma Baptist University investment partnership shares or closely-held stock, as an outright transfer or to fund a life-income gift. Such a gift should be carefully reviewed by your legal and tax counsel first, and we will also assess it before we proceed.

Gifts of Artwork

Oklahoma Baptist University is receptive to gifts of books, artwork and collectibles that meet these requirements: (1) The donated pieces must be related to our mission, and (2) You must secure an appraisal of the pieces, conducted by an independent appraiser who was not originally involved in selling the pieces to you. We can assist you in following IRS-required procedures for this appraisal.